Structural variants involved in high-altitude adaptation detected using single-molecule long-read sequencing.

Structural variants (SVs), accounting for a larger fraction of the genome than SNPs/InDels, are an important pool of genetic variation, enabling environmental adaptations. Here, we perform long-read sequencing data of 320 Tibetan and Han samples and show that SVs are highly involved in high-altitude adaptation. We expand the landscape of global SVs, apply robust models of selection and population differentiation combining SVs, SNPs and InDels, and use epigenomic analyses to predict enhancers, target genes and biological functions. We reveal diverse Tibetan-specific SVs affecting the regulatory circuitry of biological functions, including the hypoxia response, energy metabolism and pulmonary function. We find a Tibetan-specific deletion disrupts a super-enhancer and downregulates EPAS1 using enhancer reporter, cellular knock-out and DNA pull-down assays. Our study expands the global SV landscape, reveals the role of gene-regulatory circuitry rewiring in human adaptation, and illustrates the diverse functional roles of SVs in human biology.

Bortezomib-loaded mixed micelles realize a "three-in-one" effect for enhanced breast cancer treatment.

Comprehensively regulating the TME is now regarded as a promising approach for cancer treatment. Herein, a novel "three-in-one" effect is presented for simultaneously killing tumor cells, inhibiting the EMT of CAFs, and improving immune responses. In this study, bortezomib (BTZ) is selected for the treatment of breast cancer; it has multiple pharmacological mechanisms for killing tumor cells through the NF-κB signaling pathway, inhibiting the activity of CAFs by activating caspase-3, and enhancing the function of CD8+ T cells by regulating the expression of immune-stimulating factors. To improve the druggability of BTZ in solid tumors, BTZ-loaded lipid/glycocholic acid mixed micelles (BTZ-LGs) were prepared to verify the "three-in-one" effect in killing tumor cells, inhibiting CAFs, and improving immune responses. In the present work, BTZ-LGs were verified to show enhanced in vitro cytotoxicity in both 4T1 cells and 4T1/NIH3T3 co-cultured cells, as well as a superior in vivo treatment effect in different tumor-bearing mouse models. Additionally, BTZ-LGs could regulate the expression of α-SMA, caspase-3, E-cadherin, and N-cadherin, indicating their good inhibiting ability on both tumor cells and CAFs. More importantly, immunological analysis revealed that BTZ-LGs promoted the expression of the immunostimulatory factor IL-2 in tumor tissues, activated anti-tumor T cells, and overcame tumor-induced CD8+ T cell dysfunction. All these findings suggest that BTZ-LGs can achieve a "three-in-one" effect in terms of killing tumor cells, suppressing CAFs, and improving immune responses. This simple and multi-effective therapeutic strategy offers a promising approach for cancer therapy.

A bibliometric analysis of the theme trends and knowledge structures of pulmonary embolism from 2017 to 2021.

Background: Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a popular area of research in the field of respiratory medicine. We performed a bibliometric analysis based on PubMed database to characterize the distribution pattern of literature and knowledge structures related to PE. Methods: Literature pertaining to PE from January 1, 2017, to December 31, 2021, was retrieved from the PubMed database. Bibliographic information was generated using the Bibliographic Item Co-Occurrence Matrix Builder (BICOMB). The visualization matrix was established using gCLUTO software. Strategic diagram analysis was performed using GraphPad Prism 9 software. Social network analysis (SNA) was generated using Ucinet6.0 and NetDraw 2.084 software. Results: Out of all the retrieved MeSH terms and subheadings, 52 MeSH terms/MeSH subheadings with a high frequency were found, and hot subjects were sorted into 6 clusters. The strategy diagram showed that the epidemiology, etiology, and drug therapy of PE were well advanced. In contrast, studies on diagnostic imaging, pathology, and complications of PE were still immature and offered potential research space. Social network analysis showed that marginal topics such as surgical treatment of pulmonary hypertension, prevention and control of postoperative complications, and metabolism and analysis of fibrin/fibrinogen degradation products were emerging research hotspots. Conclusion: Objective analysis of the research developments in the field of PE can provide intuitive knowledge structure for researchers and clinicians. Analysis of the research hotspots related to PE is helpful for researchers and clinicians by highlighting future research directions.

Spatial pattern evolution and prediction scenario of habitat quality in typical fragile ecological region, China: A case study of the Yellow River floodplain area.

The Yellow River basin is an important area for China to implement ecological protection policies. Studying the habitat quality of the Yellow River floodplain area is of great significance to the ecological security and sustainable development of the entire basin. This study primarily investigated the spatial pattern of habitat quality in the Yellow River floodplain area from 2000 to 2020, then, we also simulated changes of habitat quality in 2025-2035 and analyzed the influencing factors by coupling the PLUS (Patch-generating Land Use Simulation) model, InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs) model and RF (Random Forest) model. The results showed that:(1) From 2000 to 2020, cultivated land and build-up land constituted an important part of the Yellow River floodplain area, and the growth rate of build-up land was fast. (2) We also found that the ecological land (forest land, grassland, waterbody) had a higher contribution value to the habitat quality, while the build-up land had a lower contribution value to the habitat quality. (3) Overall, the habitat quality of the floodplain area showed a degradation trend from 2000 to 2020. In addition, the regions with low habitat quality accounted for the major proportion. (4) Based on the calculation results of the Random Forest (RF) model, we found that topographical relief (TR) and land use intensity (LUI) were the two most important factors affecting habitat quality of the floodplain area. (5) According to the four scenarios from 2025 to 2035, it is found that the habitat quality level would be the highest under the ecological protection scenario, while under the urban development scenario its level would be the lowest. This study attempts to combine the RF model with PLUS model to improve the objectivity and accuracy of the future prediction scenario of habitat quality, which can provide scientific reference for ecological governance and policy formulation in the Yellow River floodplain area.

[Effect of Philadelphia Chromosome Karyotype and Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation on Patients with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia].

AbstractObjective: To explore the effect of Philadelphia chromosome karyotype (Ph) and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) on the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). METHODS: The data of 429 patients with all from January 2012 to December 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. According to the results of cytogenetic karyotype analysis, they were divided into Ph+ group (n=64), Ph- monomeric karyotype (MK) group (n=53) and Ph- NMK group (n=312). According to the treatment plan, they were divided into allo-HSCT group (n=236) and non-allo-HSCT group (n=193). The effects of karyotype and allo-HSCT on the short-term and long-term outcomes of all patients were analyzed. RESULTS: Among the 429 patients, 6 (1.40%) died during induction therapy, 60 (13.99%) had no response, 363 (84.62%) achieved complete remission (CR) and 287 (66.90%) achieved minimal residual disease negative (MRD-). There was no significant difference in short-term efficacy (CR%, CR1%, MRD-%) among Ph+ group, Ph- MK group and Ph- non-MK group (P>0.05). The median OS was 6.9 months (95% CI: 4.6-8.2 months) for 60 unresponsive patients and 39.8 months (95% CI: 28.6-45.9 months) for 363 CR patients. There was no significant difference in the long-term efficacy ï¼»5-year cumulative recurrence rate (CIR%), disease-free survival rate (DFS%) and overall survival rate (OS%) among Ph- group, Ph- MK group and Ph- non-MK group (P>0.05). Among 429 patients, 55.01% (236/429) underwent allo-HSCT. The short-term efficacy (CR%, MRD-%) and long-term efficacy (CIR%, DFS%, OS%)ï¼½ of patients with allo-HSCT after more than 2 consolidation cycles were better than those of patients with non-allo-HSCT (P<0.05). For the three subgroups of Ph+ group, Ph- MK group and Ph- non-MK group, the short-term and long-term efficacy of allo-HSCT patients was better than that of non-allo-HSCT patients. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that liver/spleen/lymph node enlargement was a risk factor for CIR, DFS and OS, with adjusted or of 1.23 (95% CI: 1.08-2.78, P=0.032), 1.21 (95% CI: 1.03-2.34, P=0.038) and 1.25 (95% CI: 1.08-2.97, P=0.028), respectively. No transplantation was a risk fator for CIR, DFS, OS. The adjusted or were 2.34 (95% CI: 1.18-5.39, P<0.001), 2.15 (95% CI: 1.10-4.34, P<0.001) and 2.28 (95% CI: 1.09-4.11, P<0.001), respectively. CONCLUSION: Karyotype (Ph+/- and MK/non-MK) seems to have no effect on the short-term and long-term efficacy of all patients; allo-HSCT can affect the short-term and long-term efficacy of all patients and improve their prognosis; liver/spleen/lymph node enlargement and non-implementation of allo-HSCT treatment strategy are the risk factors for poor prognosis of all patients.

Regulation of Oxidative Stress by Long Non-coding RNAs in Central Nervous System Disorders.

Central nervous system (CNS) disorders, such as ischemic stroke, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, spinal cord injury, glioma, and epilepsy, involve oxidative stress and neuronal apoptosis, often leading to long-term disability or death. Emerging studies suggest that oxidative stress may induce epigenetic modifications that contribute to CNS disorders. Non-coding RNAs are epigenetic regulators involved in CNS disorders and have attracted extensive attention. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are non-coding RNAs more than 200 nucleotides long and have no protein-coding function. However, these molecules exert regulatory functions at the transcriptional, post-transcriptional, and epigenetic levels. However, the major role of lncRNAs in the pathophysiology of CNS disorders, especially related to oxidative stress, remains unclear. Here, we review the molecular functions of lncRNAs in oxidative stress and highlight lncRNAs that exert positive or negative roles in oxidation/antioxidant systems. This review provides novel insights into the therapeutic potential of lncRNAs that mediate oxidative stress in CNS disorders.

Chinese Herbal Medicine in the Treatment of Depression in Parkinson's Disease: From Molecules to Systems.

Depression is one of the most common non-motor symptoms in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Depression in PD (DPD) increases the disability rate and reduces the quality of life of PD patients and increases the caregiver burden. Although previous studies have explained the relationship between depression and PD through a variety of pathological mechanisms, whether depression is a precursor or an independent risk factor for PD remains unclear. Additionally, increasing evidence shows that conventional anti-PD drug therapy is not ideal for DPD. Chinese Herbal Medicine (CHM) prescriptions exhibit the characteristics of multi-target, multi-pathway, and multi-level treatment of DPD and may simultaneously improve the motor symptoms of PD patients through multiple mechanisms. However, the specific pharmacological mechanisms of these CHM prescriptions remain unelucidated. Here, we investigated the mechanisms of action of the active ingredients of single herbs predominantly used in CHM prescriptions for depression as well as the therapeutic effect of CHM prescriptions on DPD. This review may facilitate the design of new selective and effective treatment strategies for DPD.

Development of Educational Communication Path of Journalism in Colleges and Universities in the Era of Mobile Communication.

The development of journalism has a huge impact on mobile communication technology and media ecology. Especially in terms of information dissemination, it not only allows people to better obtain the content they are interested in but also provides media workers with more ways to understand their own needs, meet the needs of audiences, and enhance competitiveness. Therefore, in order to enhance the development space of the journalism major, this article studies the communication development path of this major in colleges and universities in the era of mobile communications. This article mainly uses case analysis method, data method, and investigation method to study the development of journalism education in colleges and universities. The survey results show that 21 people believe that the authenticity of news is an indispensable item in teaching. Therefore, the education and communication development of journalism majors in colleges and universities cannot ignore the principle of authenticity. There are 18 people who think it is necessary to tie their majors with the Internet, indicating that colleges and universities can use the Internet platform to teach journalism.

Phylogeny and sex chromosome evolution of Palaeognathae.

Many paleognaths (ratites and tinamous) have a pair of homomorphic ZW sex chromosomes in contrast to the highly differentiated sex chromosomes of most other birds. To understand the evolutionary causes for the different tempos of sex chromosome evolution, we produced female genomes of 12 paleognathous species and reconstructed the phylogeny and the evolutionary history of paleognathous sex chromosomes. We uncovered that Palaeognathae sex chromosomes had undergone stepwise recombination suppression and formed a pattern of "evolutionary strata". Nine of the 15 studied species' sex chromosomes have maintained homologous recombination in their long pseudoautosomal regions extending more than half of the entire chromosome length. We found that in the older strata, the W chromosome suffered more serious functional gene loss. Their homologous Z-linked regions, compared with other genomic regions, have produced an excess of species-specific autosomal duplicated genes that evolved female-specific expression, in contrast to their broadly expressed progenitors. We speculate such "defeminization" of Z chromosome with underrepresentation of female-biased genes and slow divergence of sex chromosomes of paleognaths might be related to their distinctive mode of sexual selection targeting females rather than males, which evolved in their common ancestors.

Deep learning predicts epidermal growth factor receptor mutation subtypes in lung adenocarcinoma.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to explore the predictive ability of deep learning (DL) for the common epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation subtypes in patients with lung adenocarcinoma. METHODS: A total of 665 patients with lung adenocarcinoma (528/137) were recruited from two different institutions. In the training set, an 18-layer convolutional neural network (CNN) and fivefold cross-validation strategy were used to establish a CNN model. Subsequently, an independent external validation cohort from the other institution was used to evaluate the predictive efficacy of the CNN model. Grad-weighted class activation mapping (Grad-CAM) technology was used for the visual interpretation of the CNN model. In addition, this study also compared the prediction abilities of the radiomics and CNN models. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, accuracy and precision values, and recall and F1-score were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the CNN model and compare its performance with that of the radiomics model. RESULTS: In the validation set, the micro- and macroaverage values of the area under the ROC curve of the CNN model to identify the three EGFR subtypes were 0.78 and 0.79, respectively. All evaluation indicators of the CNN model were better than those of the radiomics model. CONCLUSIONS: Our study confirmed the potential of DL for predicting the EGFR mutation status in lung adenocarcinoma. The imaging phenotypes of the three mutation subtypes were found to be different, which can provide a basis for choosing more accurate and personalized treatment in patients with lung adenocarcinoma.

Hypophosphatemia is an independent risk factor for AKI among hospitalized patients with COVID-19 infection.

BACKGROUND: This study sought to investigate incidence and risk factors for acute kidney injury (AKI) in hospitalized COVID-19. METHODS: In this retrospective study, we enrolled 823 COVID-19 patients with at least two evaluations of renal function during hospitalization from four hospitals in Wuhan, China between February 2020 and April 2020. Clinical and laboratory parameters at the time of admission and follow-up data were recorded. Systemic renal tubular dysfunction was evaluated via 24-h urine collections in a subgroup of 55 patients. RESULTS: In total, 823 patients were enrolled (50.5% male) with a mean age of 60.9 ± 14.9 years. AKI occurred in 38 (40.9%) ICU cases but only 6 (0.8%) non-ICU cases. Using forward stepwise Cox regression analysis, we found eight independent risk factors for AKI including decreased platelet level, lower albumin level, lower phosphorus level, higher level of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), procalcitonin, C-reactive protein (CRP), urea, and prothrombin time (PT) on admission. For every 0.1 mmol/L decreases in serum phosphorus level, patients had a 1.34-fold (95% CI 1.14-1.58) increased risk of AKI. Patients with hypophosphatemia were likely to be older and with lower lymphocyte count, lower serum albumin level, lower uric acid, higher LDH, and higher CRP. Furthermore, serum phosphorus level was positively correlated with phosphate tubular maximum per volume of filtrate (TmP/GFR) (Pearson r = 0.66, p < .001) in subgroup analysis, indicating renal phosphate loss via proximal renal tubular dysfunction. CONCLUSION: The AKI incidence was very low in non-ICU patients as compared to ICU patients. Hypophosphatemia is an independent risk factor for AKI in patients hospitalized for COVID-19 infection.

Multiple root canals in the maxillary molar: an unusual case report.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this report was to highlight the importance of using a dental operating microscope (DOM) to locate supernumerary canals and diagnose variations in root canals using cone-beam computed tomographic (CBCT) images. CASE PRESENTATION: A 35-year-old Chinese female had repeated swelling in the upper right posterior maxilla for 3 months and was referred to evaluate symptomatic apical periodontitis and mesotaurodonts for upper right first permanent molar and upper right second permanent molar. Root canal therapy was proposed and conducted with the use of DOM and CBCT. CONCLUSIONS: Proper diagnosis and careful clinicoradiological examination are necessary, and it is essential to reinforce the knowledge of the rare morphology of root canals for clinicians.

A validation study of UCSD-Mayo risk score in predicting hospital-acquired acute kidney injury in COVID-19 patients.

INTRODUCTION: Acute kidney injury (AKI) in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients is associated with poor prognosis. Early prediction and intervention of AKI are vital for improving clinical outcome of COVID-19 patients. As lack of tools for early AKI detection in COVID-19 patients, this study aimed to validate the USCD-Mayo risk score in predicting hospital-acquired AKI in an extended multi-center COVID-19 cohort. METHODS: Five hundred seventy-two COVID-19 patients from Wuhan Tongji Hospital Guanggu Branch, Wuhan Leishenshan Hospital, and Wuhan No. Ninth Hospital was enrolled for this study. Patients who developed AKI or reached an outcome of recovery or death during the study period were included. Predictors were evaluated according to data extracted from medical records. RESULTS: Of all patients, a total of 44 (8%) developed AKI. The UCSD-Mayo risk score achieved excellent discrimination in predicting AKI with the C-statistic of 0.88 (95%CI: 0.84-0.91). Next, we determined the UCSD-Mayo risk score had good overall performance (Nagelkerke R2 = 0.32) and calibration in our cohort. Further analysis showed that the UCSD-Mayo risk score performed well in subgroups defined by gender, age, and several chronic comorbidities. However, the discrimination of the UCSD-Mayo risk score in ICU patients and patients with mechanical ventilation was not good which might be resulted from different risk factors of these patients. CONCLUSIONS: We validated the performance of UCSD-Mayo risk score in predicting hospital-acquired AKI in COVID-19 patients was excellent except for patients from ICU or patients with mechanical ventilation.

Anemia is associated with severe illness in COVID-19: A retrospective cohort study.

Anemia commonly aggravates the severity of respiratory diseases, whereas thus far, few studies have elucidated the impact of anemia on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical characteristics of patients with anemia, and to further explore the relationship between anemia and the severity of COVID-19. In this single-center, retrospective, observational study, a total of 222 confirmed patients admitted to Wuhan Ninth Hospital from 1 December 2019 to 20 March 2020 were recruited, including 79 patients with anemia and 143 patients without anemia. Clinical characteristics, laboratory findings, disease progression and prognosis were collected and analyzed. Risk factors associated with the severe illness in COVID-19 were established by univariable and multivariable logistic regression models. In our cohort, compared to patients without anemia, patients with anemia were more likely to have one or more comorbidities and severe COVID-19 illness. More patients demonstrated elevated levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT) and creatinine in anemia group. Levels of erythrocyte sedimentation rate, D-dimer, myoglobin, T-pro brain natriuretic peptide (T-pro-BNP) and urea nitrogen in patients with anemia were significantly higher than those without. In addition, the proportion of patients with dyspnea, elevated CRP, and PCT was positively associated with the severity of anemia. The odd ratio of anemia related to the severe condition of COVID-19 was 3.47 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.02-11.75; P = .046) and 3.77 (95% CI: 1.33-10.71; P = .013) after adjustment for baseline date and laboratory indices, respectively. Anemia is an independent risk factor associated with the severe illness of COVID-19, and healthcare professionals should be more sensitive to the hemoglobin levels of COVID-19 patients on admission. Awareness of anemia as a risk factor for COVID-19 was of great significance.

Erastin/sorafenib induces cisplatin-resistant non-small cell lung cancer cell ferroptosis through inhibition of the Nrf2/xCT pathway.

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has long been one of the most lethal types of cancer due to its lack of typical clinical symptoms at early stages and high risk of tumour recurrence, even following complete surgical resection. Multicourse chemotherapy based on cisplatin (CDDP) is the standard adjuvant treatment for NSCLC; however, its benefits for the overall survival of patients are limited. In this study, NSCLC cells possessing CDDP-resistant characteristics (N5CP cells), obtained from surgical resection of clinical specimens of patients with NSCLC, were cultured and screened to generate research models. This study aimed to identify the mechanism underlying tumour cell resistance to CDDP and to identify a novel treatment for NSCLC following CDDP failure. CDDP-mediated NF-E2 related factor 2 (Nrf2)/light chain of System xc - (xCT) pathway activation was associated with the resistance of cells to CDDP. Therefore, erastin/sorafenib regulation of Nrf2 or xCT expression may alter the sensitivity of tumour cells to CDDP. The small molecules erastin and sorafenib effectively induced N5CP cell ferroptosis, which was mediated by the accumulation of intracellular lipid reactive oxygen species. Additionally, low doses of erastin or sorafenib could be used in association with CDDP to effectively trigger N5CP cell ferroptosis. Furthermore, it was indicated that erastin and sorafenib, alone or in combination with a low dose of CDDP, effectively inhibited the growth of N5CP cells in vivo. Therefore, ferroptosis inducers, including erastin and sorafenib, may be considered a novel treatment regimen for patients with NSCLC, particularly patients with CDDP failure.

Ratiometric fluorescence monitoring of α-glucosidase activity based on oxidase-like property of MnO2 nanosheet and its application for inhibitor screening.

In recent years, α-glucosidase (α-Glu) inhibitor has been widely used in clinic for diabetic and HIV therapy. Although different systems have been constructed for sensitive and selective detection of α-Glu and screening its inhibitor, the method based on ratiometric fluorescence for α-glucosidase inhibitor screening remains poorly investigated. Herein, we constructed a new MnO2 nanosheet (NS)-based ratiometric fluorescent sensor for α-glucosidase activity assay and its inhibitor screening. MnO2 NS as an oxidase-mimicking nanomaterial directly oxidized o-phenylenediamine (OPD) into 2,3-diaminophenazine (DAP) which had a strong fluorescence emission at 575 nm, whereas the fluorescence of Ag nanoclusters (NCs) at 450 nm was then quenched by the generated DAP through inner filter effect (IFE). When 2-O-α-d-glucopyranosyl-l-ascorbic acid (AAG) as α-Glu substrate and α-Glu were introduced into the above system, MnO2 NS would be reduced to Mn2+ and lose the oxidase-like property since ascorbic acids (AA) were released with the hydrolysis of AAG by α-Glu. Thus, DAP would not be produced and IFE was stopped accompanying with the fluorescence decrease of DAP and fluorescence increase of AgNCs. A ratiometric fluorescent α-Glu nanosensor was thus developed. The fluorescence intensity ratio of DAP to AgNCs linearly decreased with the increasing of α-Glu concentrations in the range of 0.2-8 U mL-1, and limit of detection was 0.03 U mL-1. This proposed sensing approach was also expanded to α-Glu inhibitor screening and showed excellent applicability. As a typical α-Glu inhibitor, acarbose was investigated with a low detection limit of 10-8 M. The constructed sensor platform was proven to be sensitive and selective as well as simple, label-free and low-cost, making it promising for the accurate diagnosis of relevant disease and discovery of potential drugs.

Comprehensive analysis of potential immunotherapy genomic biomarkers in 1000 Chinese patients with cancer.

BACKGROUND: Tumor mutation burden (TMB), DNA mismatch repair deficiency (dMMR), microsatellite instability (MSI), and PD-L1 amplification (PD-L1 AMP) may predict the efficacy of the PD-1/PD-L1 blockade. With the broadening landscape of immunotherapy use, it is important to identify patients who are likely to benefit from the therapy. This study aimed to characterize the distributions of these biomarkers and explore the relationships among these biomarkers for Chinese patients with cancer. METHODS: In this study, we examined the aforementioned biomarkers in more than 1000 Chinese patients with cancer. These biomarkers were determined based on whole-exome sequencing (WES) of tumor/blood samples. RESULTS: Of the 953 samples from Chinese cancer patients assessed in this study, 35% exhibited high TMB (TMB-H), 4% were positive for high MSI (MSI-H), dMMR occurred in 0.53%, and PD-L1 AMP was positive in 3.79%. We found higher rates of TMB-H among hepatocellular carcinoma, breast cancer, and esophageal cancer patients than was reported for The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data. Lung cancer patients with EGFR mutations had significantly lower TMB values than those with wild-type EGFR, and increased TMB was significantly associated with dMMR in colorectal cancer (CRC). The frequency of tumors with MSI-H was the highest in CRC and gastric cancer. PD-L1 AMP occurred most frequently in lung squamous cell carcinoma and HER2-positive breast cancer. While MSI and dMMR are associated with higher mutational loads, correlations between TMB-H and other biomarkers, between MSI-H and dMMR, and between PD-L1 AMP and other biomarkers were low, indicating different underlying causes of the four biomarkers. CONCLUSION: The results reveal the frequency of these biomarkers in different malignancies, with potential implications for PD-1/PD-L1 blockade use for Chinese patients with cancer.

A ratiometric fluorescence probe based on carbon dots for discriminative and highly sensitive detection of acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase in human whole blood.

A ratiometric fluorescence probe based on carbon dots (CDs) was developed for discriminative and highly sensitive detection of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) activity in human whole blood. When o-phenylenediamine (OPD) was oxidized by Cu2+, the product 2,3-diaminophenazine (oxOPD) could effectively quench the fluorescence of CDs at 460 nm due to the inner filter effect and gave rise to a new emission peak at 570 nm. The AChE or BChE catalyzed hydrolysis reaction of acetylthiocholine or butyrylthiocholine to generate thiocholine, whose sulfhydryl group strongly captured Cu2+ to inhibit the oxidization of OPD, thus effectively preserving the natural fluorescence emission of CDs. The resulting fluorescence intensity ratio served as the signal output of the probe for cholinesterases (ChEs) activity sensing. The activities of AChE and BChE were determined to range from 0.2 to 14.0 U L-1 and from 0.1 to 5.0 U L-1, with detection limits of 0.1 U L-1 and 0.04 U L-1, respectively. Additionally, the IC50 of tacrine and ethopropazine for the inhibition of AChE and BChE were estimated to be 29.8 nM and 132.6 nM, respectively. Moreover, the probe was successfully applied to the discriminative determination of AChE and BChE in human whole blood without any pretreatment. These results suggested that the proposed strategy provided a discriminative, sensitive and robust analytical platform for ChEs clinical diagnostics and drug screening.

Using clinical genomic sequencing to guide personalized cancer therapy in China.

Aim: To evaluate whether clinical genomic sequencing may benefit Chinese patients with stage IV cancer. Patients & methods: Chinese patients with cancer and their oncologists were provided with genomic sequencing results and corresponding clinical treatment recommendations based on evidence-based medicine, defined as CWES (clinical whole-exome sequencing) analysis. Chinese patients with stage IV cancer who failed the previous treatment upon receiving the CWES reports were included for analyzing the impact of CWES on clinical outcomes in 1-year follow-ups. Results: A total of 88.6% of 953 Chinese patients with cancer had clinically actionable somatic genomic alterations. Eleven patients followed the CWES reports, and 11 patients did not follow the CWES suggestions. The median progression-free survival of two groups were 12 and 4 months, and 45 and 91% of patients failed this round of therapy, respectively. Conclusion: The current study suggested that CWES has the potential to increase clinical benefits for Chinese patients with stage IV cancer.

Carbon dots coated with molecularly imprinted polymers: A facile bioprobe for fluorescent determination of caffeic acid.

A new and sensitive method for fluorescent determination of caffeic acid (CA) was proposed based on silane-functionazed carbon dots coated with molecularly imprinted polymers (CDs@MIPs). CDs@MIPs were prepared by using CA as the templates on the surface of silane-functionazed carbon dots(CDs) with a sol-gel process. The as-prepared CDs@MIPs were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy. The CDs@MIPs exhibited distinguished selectivity and high binding affinity to CA templates, and also showed good reusability. Under optimal conditions, the fluorescence intensity of CDs@MIPs decreased linearly with the increase of CA in the range of 0.5-200 µM. The limit of detection was 0.11 µM (3σ/K). Finally, the proposed method was successfully applied to the detection of CA in human plasma. The result indicates that the method built has promising potential for monitoring CA concentration in clinic.